The Decay of Magnetic Fields in Kaluza-Klein Theory

Magnetic fields in five-dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory compactified on a circle correspond to ``twisted'' identifications of five dimensional Minkowski space. We show that a five dimensional generalisation of the Kerr solution can be analytically continued to construct an instanton that gives rise to two possible decay modes of a magnetic field. One decay mode is the generalisation of the ``bubble decay" of the Kaluza-Klein vacuum described by Witten. The other decay mode, rarer for weak fields, corresponds in four dimensions to the creation of monopole-anti-monopole pairs. An instanton for the latter process is already known and is given by the analytic continuation of the \KK\ Ernst metric, which we show is identical to the five dimensional Kerr solution. We use this fact to illuminate further properties of the decay process. It appears that fundamental fermions can eliminate the bubble decay of the magnetic field, while allowing the pair production of Kaluza-Klein monopoles.Comment: 25 pages, one figure. The discussion of fermions has been revised: We show how fundamental fermions can eliminate the bubble-type instability but still allow pair creation of monopole

Pair Creation of Dilaton Black Holes

We consider dilaton gravity theories in four spacetime dimensions parametrised by a constant $a$, which controls the dilaton coupling, and construct new exact solutions. We first generalise the C-metric of Einstein-Maxwell theory ($a=0$) to solutions corresponding to oppositely charged dilaton black holes undergoing uniform acceleration for general $a$. We next develop a solution generating technique which allows us to ``embed" the dilaton C-metrics in magnetic dilaton Melvin backgrounds, thus generalising the Ernst metric of Einstein-Maxwell theory. By adjusting the parameters appropriately, it is possible to eliminate the nodal singularities of the dilaton C-metrics. For $a<1$ (but not for $a\ge 1$), it is possible to further restrict the parameters so that the dilaton Ernst solutions have a smooth euclidean section with topology $S^2\times S^2-{\rm\{pt\}}$, corresponding to instantons describing the pair production of dilaton black holes in a magnetic field. A different restriction on the parameters leads to smooth instantons for all values of $a$ with topology $S^2\times \R^2$.Comment: 22 pages, EFI-93-51, FERMILAB-Pub-93/272-A, UMHEP-393. (Asymptotics of Ernst solutions clarified, typos repaired

Deep-coverage whole genome sequences and blood lipids among 16,324 individuals.

Large-scale deep-coverage whole-genome sequencing (WGS) is now feasible and offers potential advantages for locus discovery. We perform WGS in 16,324 participants from four ancestries at mean depth &gt;29X and analyze genotypes with four quantitative traits-plasma total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides. Common variant association yields known loci except for few variants previously poorly imputed. Rare coding variant association yields known Mendelian dyslipidemia genes but rare non-coding variant association detects no signals. A high 2M-SNP LDL-C polygenic score (top 5th percentile) confers similar effect size to a monogenic mutation (~30 mg/dl higher for each); however, among those with severe hypercholesterolemia, 23% have a high polygenic score and only 2% carry a monogenic mutation. At these sample sizes and for these phenotypes, the incremental value of WGS for discovery is limited but WGS permits simultaneous assessment of monogenic and polygenic models to severe hypercholesterolemia

Deep coverage whole genome sequences and plasma lipoprotein(a) in individuals of European and African ancestries.

Lipoprotein(a), Lp(a), is a modified low-density lipoprotein particle that contains apolipoprotein(a), encoded by LPA, and is a highly heritable, causal risk factor for cardiovascular diseases that varies in concentrations across ancestries. Here, we use deep-coverage whole genome sequencing in 8392 individuals of European and African ancestry to discover and interpret both single-nucleotide variants and copy number (CN) variation associated with Lp(a). We observe that genetic determinants between Europeans and Africans have several unique determinants. The common variant rs12740374 associated with Lp(a) cholesterol is an eQTL for SORT1 and independent of LDL cholesterol. Observed associations of aggregates of rare non-coding variants are largely explained by LPA structural variation, namely the LPA kringle IV 2 (KIV2)-CN. Finally, we find that LPA risk genotypes confer greater relative risk for incident atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases compared to directly measured Lp(a), and are significantly associated with measures of subclinical atherosclerosis in African Americans

Publisher Correction: Deep coverage whole genome sequences and plasma lipoprotein(a) in individuals of European and African ancestries.

The original version of this article contained an error in the name of the author Ramachandran S. Vasan, which was incorrectly given as Vasan S. Ramachandran. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the article

Communications and Related Projects

Contains reports on six research projects

Rates of Tuberculosis Infection in Healthcare Workers Providing Services to HIV-Infected Populations

Objective: To assess the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) or a positive skin test in healthcare workers (HCWs) providing services to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals and to determine prospectively the incidence of new infections in this population. Design: This prospective cohort study enrolled 1,014 HCWs working with HIV-infected populations from 10 metropolitan areas. Purified protein derivative (PPD) tuberculin skin tests were placed at baseline and every 6 months afterwards on those without a history of TB or a positive PPD. Demographic, occupational, and TB exposure data also were collected. Setting: Outpatient clinics, hospitals, private practice offices, and drug treatment programs providing HIV-related healthcare and research programs. Participants: A voluntary sample of staff and volunteers from 16 Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS units. Results: Factors related to prior TB or a positive skin test at baseline included being foreign-born, increased length of time in health care, living in New York City, or previous bacille Calmette-Guerín vaccination. The rate of PPD conversion was 1.8 per 100 person years of follow-up. No independent relation was found between the amount or type of contact with HIV-infected populations and the risk of TB infection. Conclusion: These data provide some reassurance that caring for HIV-infected patients is not related to an increased rate ofTB infection among HCWs in these settings

Functional cerebral changes in multiple sclerosis patients during an autobiographical memory test.

Our aim was to investigate the functional underpinnings of autobiographical memory (AM) impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. To that end, 18 patients and 18 controls underwent the autobiographical interview (AI). Subsequently, the 36 participants underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session designed to assess the construction and elaboration of AMs. A categorical control task was also presented. Patients were trained in the fMRI procedure to optimise the procedural aspects accompanying the task itself. Although the patients obtained significantly poorer AI scores (p < .001), their performance on the easier AM fMRI task was efficiently carried out, allowing relevant comparisons with healthy controls. Relatively to healthy controls, the patients showed increased and bilateral cerebral activations (p < .005) during the construction and elaboration phases. The prefrontal, temporal and posterior cerebral region activations were located within the core network sustaining AM, with the bilateral prefrontal region being centrally involved. The parametric neural responses to the difficulty of access and amount of details of memories were also significantly different for the two groups, with the right hippocampal region showing a particularly increased recruitment (p < .005). The findings suggested the presence of functional cerebral changes during AM performance and supported the presence of AM retrieval deficit in MS patients.journal articleresearch support, non-u.s. gov't20152014 09 22importe

Miscellaneous Problems

Contains reports on eleven research projects

Communications Research

Contains reports on six research projects